


Rise of a Warrior

by GoddessKiteon



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Backstory, Centaur, Origin Story, Short, plz dont judge too hard, probably badly written, sat down in one session to write this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 09:03:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19170064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoddessKiteon/pseuds/GoddessKiteon
Summary: Centaur Marika is determined to prove herself to her herd, but ends up helping out a human instead, and builds a life for herself in a human village. {This is basically a first rough draft of my characters backstory, just something to help define her character more and an attempt to make her have personality rather than a baisc warrior that hits things with big sword because it's fun}





	Rise of a Warrior

Marika stood at the edge of a forest, her elders and family there to see her off. She had only a sword and one mission: survive in this forest for three days. If she came back alive, she would be deemed an adult in her herd, if she didn’t come back, they would mourn and move on. Plenty of those who entered didn’t come back in three days, but sometimes they would show up sometime later, battered and bruised but alive. 

Marika adjusted the belt, not used to having anything on her body at all, and bowed her last farewell and set off into the forest. This shouldn’t be too hard, she thought, I’ve been taught enough to survive. The first thing she did was locate a safe water source, and then searched around for potential food sources. She's heard rumors from other of what was in here, but they couldn’t say anything, for it could give an advantage to those who have yet to go through the trial. 

Nothing scared Marika, she was brave, fearless, or so she told herself over and over. The first night was a breeze, not even having to draw her sword once. And they said it would be hard, testing of my skill. All it’s testing is how long I stave away boredom. She found a safe place to settle for the night when screaming alerted her. Someone was in trouble, she hurried towards the voice. Wait... this could be a trap, some creature trying to lure me in, she thought for a second. How would they know I'm here though? Or that I would even respond to someone in danger? She shook her head and continued forward. A small clearing revealed itself, with some large wolves surrounding a tree with a small girl clinging to the branches, as high as she could get. Marika drew her sword and charged forward, yelling loudly. Most of the wolves jumped back, one daring lunge back, but Marika quickly slashed it, making it flee, the others falling back too, not wanting to work hard for a meal. 

The girl climbed down from the tree, her leg bleeding. “You’re hurt,” Marika knelt down, “Get on my back and I can take you back to your home.” 

“Uh, I-it's fine, I can walk, you don’t need to do that.” 

“Please, I insist, it would be wrong to make you walk on that leg,” the girl sighed, and climbed onto Marika’s back. “Grab my mane to not fall off, and don’t worry, it takes a lot to hurt a horse, holding onto my hair won’t bother me.” 

“O-ok,” she tenderly grabbed onto the long, slightly mangled hair, “my village is that way,” she pointed off into the trees. 

“What brought you into these woods so late?” Marika walked slow enough to not jostle the girl around. 

“It’s my mother’s birthday tomorrow, and I wanted to find her some flowers, but all the ones that grow around the village are boring and common, I wanted something unique.” 

“I’m sure your mother would rather have you intact and alive than some flowers.” 

“I didn’t expect there to be wolves!” 

“Even so, wandering a forest at night is dangerous without creatures trying to kill you. Plenty of plants can harm you, or you could get lost, trip over a root and harm your foot-” 

“Ok, ok, I get it, it was stupid to come here. What's your name?” she changed the subject, getting annoyed. 

“Marika, and yours?” 

“Cananea.” 

“Nice to meet you Cananea,” Makira soon left the trees, noticing some buildings off in a short distance. 

“Nice to meet you too Marika.” 

 

It was strange to walk in a human village, the buildings obviously too small for her species. The girl was leading her through the village when a woman shouted out “Cananea!” and came running from a road off to the side. 

“Mom!” 

“Cananea, are you alright?! Why did you go out by yourself so late? I’ve been looking for you for an hour now!” 

“Sorry momma,” she went to climb down, but Marika stopped her. 

“I should get you to your house first, you still shouldn’t walk on that leg,” the mother was wary of Marika, but led her to her house to get Cananea there without hurting her leg any more than it was. 

“Can she stay? She did save my life!” 

“You wouldn’t have needed saving if you didn’t go out recklessly at night!” 

“I didn’t plan on staying long anyways, most people don’t really like my race, so I wouldn’t want to scare anyone here. Plus, I have a herd of my own, and I'll be needing to get back to them soon,” Marika turned and left before Cananea could convince her otherwise. 

 

Marika, now a bit more alert than she was when she was about to rest, took to wandering the forest some more. She noticed a small patch of flowers, blooming in the moonlight, and went over to them. Determining they weren’t poisonous, she plucked a few, heading back to the village when the sun began to rise. She snuck around the outskirts, getting to Cananea’s house and noticed the girl outside, tending to some chickens. Marika hurried over, praying no one else noticed her, and got the girls attention. 

“You came back!” 

“And you’re walking on your injured leg,” It was now wrapped up in a bandage. 

“Well, the chickens need tending to, and mother is busy inside.” 

“Speaking of your mother,” Marika pulled the flowers from behind her back, “I found these and thought maybe you’d like to give them to your mother, since that’s why you were out in the first place.” 

“They’re beautiful! She gently grabbed the bundle from Marika’s hands, admiring them, “I’m sure she’ll love them!” Marika turned to leave once more, “Are you sure you won’t stay?” 

Marika thought about it, the girl seemed almost sad to see her go, but her herd would be waiting for her come sunrise in a couple days. What use would she be to her herd? Despite telling herself she was fearless, Marika was one of the most scared, perhaps even weakest. In a human village, she wouldn’t have to prove anything to fit in, nor would she be the smallest, easy to pick on and make fun of at every moment. “I’ll stay for a short while to start, but if I don’t fit in, I'll go home and you can’t prevent me!” 

She laughed, “I’m sure you’ll love it here too much to want to leave! We'll be great friends!” 

Marika never really had a friend before, so she was excited about that, but she was concerned about her family. They were a little extra protective of her growing up since she had been so small. She'd always remember their look of worry and fear when she entered the forest. Perhaps they expected her to not come back out. 

 

 

It was a little rocky getting everyone introduced to her, since she tended to stand taller than most of the kids who were her age, and almost as tall as the men as well. Marika was still growing too, so she would soon overtake them in stature as well. 

Cananea had to find a shirt that could fit Marika, as going around without one wasn’t very popular in human settlements. The fabric felt weird, and scratchy, but after some time Marika grew used to it. Cananea took to brushing out all of the knots in Marika’s hair, and tended to braid it often, as it was long and silky, and she wanted to mess with Marika’s hair as often as she could. 

Marika kept her sword with her at all times, despite the comments from the others. It was the only thing she had from her herd, and wanted to be sure to remember them often, for perhaps one day she might return. Marika stayed in Cananea’s family’s barn, making a bed out of some old straw. 

When Cananea’s father was drafted into the war, they had to sell their horse to get by, and had been struggling, but Marika took to plowing the field, and helping the crops grow. She helped them have their first harvest in years, and they finally didn’t have to worry about where their next meal would come from during the winter. 

Marika grew adjusted to the simple farm life, the inhabitants of the village now used to having a centaur wandering about. Marika still kept her sword with her, running her hand along the hilt, making sure it was there, making sure she wouldn’t forget. 

She was resting when a shriek got her attention. She bolted through the streets, bandits wandering about the main road. “What’s this?” one of them said, noticing her, “A horse? A human?” he chuckled, “No, of course not, it’s a monster! Why does a small village house a monster?” 

Marika drew her sword, “The only monster I see stands in front of me, mocking and hideous.” 

He scowled, “Who are you to call me hideous?! Look at yourself! Pick a race!” he drew his own sword and ran at her. Marika surged forward, kicking him down before he could get a swing in, placing her sword at his neck. He went to slice at her when she didn’t commit to the kill, but she slammed her hoof into his wrist, breaking it, causing him to scream out. The other bandits came towards her, and she rushed the smallest group, sending a sweep of her sword, barreling over one of them, slicing another across his chest. The rest still came towards her, and she kicked one, sliced another, but the third managed to get a hit in, but it didn’t do much to her thick hide. She hind kicked the bandit she slashed across the chest, as he tried to sneak up on her, and brought her sword down on the one who scratched her. 

They didn’t stand a chance against someone who could fight back, only going for easy pickings. The ones who weren’t knocked out quickly ran to their horses and took off, leaving their leader, and a couple others behind, of whom the villagers quickly tied up and put in their small jail that they had to quickly put together to keep them from escaping. They gave them no information, but Marika knew that more would be back, since some got away. 

The small blacksmith in town got his forge lit for the first time in a long time, and made Marika a chest plate, then made her a better sword. He made as many weapons as he had the materials for, and the town got to training all those who could wield one. 

When they did come back, they were ready enough, Marika at the front, standing tall. One of the bandits pointed to her, “That’s the bitch!” 

“Ugliest female I ever did see,” one mumbled. 

Marika didn’t dare make the first move, they would be expecting her to charge them, they would have prepared for that. She slowly walked forward, then smiled big and pranced back and forth in front of them, “Oh lookie! Lookie! A bunch of bastards come to play! Come back to fail, come back to die?” 

One of the bandits from the first attack grew mad and surged forward, but Marika jumped to the side, and merely punched the back of his head, causing him to face plant, then kicked his sword away from him. She placed a hoof on his back, gently enough to not hurt him, but firm enough that he couldn’t move or get up. “Who’s next?” they all surged forward, but then so did the villagers, some popping out of buildings or bushed, surprising them, and giving them an advantage over the bandits who didn’t expect so many fighters after only a couple weeks of being away. 

The villagers were sloppy, but their numbers made up for their lack of true technique. Marika taught them what she knew, but most of her sword training was to be after she came back from the forest. That had been months ago now, and they must have long since mourned her and moved on. 

After a more difficult fight, and many injuries, the bandits once again fled, shouting amongst themselves to not come back. Marika had proved herself, if not to her herd, then to her new family. She would protect them, and help them learn to protect themselves. She lived among them, and kept the danger away while she watched her friend grow, marry, and have kids of her own. 

 

Marika had squeezed into the house, and laid next to the bed, holding the hand of her best friend, and sister by heart. She was scared she’s squeeze to hard and break the fragile hand, but her friend only smiled. It took a lot of effort for Marika to smile back, trying not to let the tears fall from her eyes. Cananea’s children sat beside her as well, sniffling. Cananea spoke on shaky breaths, “You shouldn’t stay here any longer. The world needs someone to help protect the weak, and we have plenty of fighters here now. You would do better, do good, somewhere else.” 

“I won’t leave just yet, I promised you I'd never leave you.” 

“Mm, but I'll be leaving you soon, and I want you to carry on with a promise. A promise to protect those who are weak from those who’d seek to harm them.” 

Marika wiped a stray tear away, “Of course I will, I promise.” Marika brought her friends hand to her cheek, her tears falling now, as she felt the hand slowly lose its grip, and become limp. Her friend looked so peaceful; a faint smile left on her face. 

Marika stood well into the night after the funeral, still not wanting to accept her friend was gone, and here she was, standing just as young as she was when she watched her friend give birth to her first child. 

The next day, she hugged all of her god children, and set off into the world. She was led to believe humans were selfish and cruel, but there were some who were kind, caring, and put others before themselves. There were roses that bloomed around the thorns, and it was those who she'd protect. Those who couldn’t fight for themselves are those who Marika would fight for, no matter who, no matter where. She made a promise, and she’d keep it.


End file.
